Richmond non-profit makes most of empty homes

Mike Hager, Vancouver Sun12.01.2014

Chimo outreach worker Neena Randhawa with developer Clive Alladin at a home in the 8600-block of No. 2 Road in Richmond. Alladin allows Chimo to house people in need at homes that would otherwise be vacant as he waits for development permits.Gerry Kahrmann
/ Vancouver Sun

Chimo outreach worker Neena Randhawa with developer Clive Alladin at a home in the 8600-block of No. 2 Road in Richmond. Alladin allows Chimo to house people in need at homes that would otherwise be vacant as he waits for development permits.Gerry Kahrmann
/ Vancouver Sun

METRO VANCOUVER -- A non-profit agency running a women’s shelter in Richmond says its innovative model can save neighbourhoods from the blight of vacant homes while putting a roof over the heads of those in need.

Over the last two years, Chimo Community Services has taken 19 women fleeing domestic violence or men living on the streets and found them short-term rentals at four houses slated for demolition. Two developers have offered up homes that can be lived in for at least six months, sometimes longer than a year, while the city processes their applications to rezone and build townhomes on the properties.

The idea was first sprung at the start of last year when Balandra Development’s owner Clive Alladin told Chimo outreach worker Neena Randhawa about the five-bedroom house that was about to sit empty for the next year.

At the time, Randhawa was trying to move an Urdu-speaking woman and her four kids out of Chimo Community Services’ Nova House shelter, which only has 10 short-term beds for women and their children.

“We had a really hard time finding a basement suite for four kids — and Richmond’s very, very expensive,” Randhawa recalls. “For someone who’s low income and on income assistance, they only get $375 for their shelter portion — there’s no way you’re going to find anything in Richmond for that amount.

“She was in tears. Because the kids went to school in Richmond, we didn’t want to uproot her from her community and the support system she’s already involved in and then send her all the way to Langley or Port Coquitlam or something like that.”

With a free place to stay for the next year, the woman was able to learn to drive, apply for disability benefits and eventually secure more permanent social housing for herself and her four kids, who are all under the age of 12. A second home donated by Alladin housed six homeless women for six months, during which time Randhawa and Chimo helped them deal with their various issues.

“For you and me, six months we go, ‘What? Six months? That’s not enough.’ But for someone on the street or sleeping in their car, six months is a lot of time,” Randhawa says. “It’s just that with comfort their mental health became stable.

“They were able to get things in place, have a bank account, they were able to save sometimes.”

Alladin says he usually has one or two homes sitting empty as he waits for city rezoning permits to tear them down and build larger townhomes. During this time developers have to worry about “headaches” like maintaining the lawn, securing the property from squatters and keeping a constant eye out for vandals.

It’s a “travesty” and “a waste of an excellent resource” to have homes like his sit empty, while having tenants during this period are a “no-brainer,” he says.

“These buildings can be used right up until the time they need to be demolished,” Alladin says. “It’s a no brainer — there’s a need and there’s a facility — all you need to do is put them together.”

That’s where Chimo and front line workers like Randhawa come in, he says.

Randhawa says the model also works when a non-profit like hers sets up a short-term tenancy agreement between the homeless people and the developer, like it has done with four homeless men who are now living and paying rent in a house that developer Ken Reddy is waiting to tear down.

“Once you give these guys a chance it’s fine, we just need to trust them and give them support,” Randhawa says.

Chimo serves as the go-between for the developers and their marginalized tenants, providing support and reassurances.

“People get hesitant. They say, ‘Oh my God, what am I going to do?’ because some of them look shady.”

Randhawa chose the four homeless men because she thought their personalities would mesh well until the house is demolished next spring. It may sound like a recipe for a bad reality TV series, but so far her screening has paid off.

St. Alban’s Church donated furniture, the Ministry of Social Development provided four beds and the local food bank helps feed the men.

Alladin let the women and children stay for free at two of his donated homes, while Chimo helped set up a direct deposit for the tenants at the other two houses so that their $375 housing allowance is deposited into the developers’ accounts each month.

The developers keep paying the utility bills and insurance for the donated houses.

No neighbours have complained and the men are cutting the grass, putting out the garbage and cooking meals.

“They feel so proud to have had the place,” she says. “They support each other, they help each other.

“They’ve all learned these skills from being on the street — they just cope.”

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